‘Star Wars’ Signals: Chewie Proves Han Shot First and More

Welcome to our weekly Star Wars roundup! With Disney ramping up the franchise on all cylinders, there’s tons of exciting stuff in the way of news, rumors, and clips. We’ve picked out the best Star Wars stories the Internet has to offer, bringing you everything you need to know about the world’s favorite sci-fi series.

1. Disney dishes on bonus features and release date for The Force Awakens DVD/Blu-ray

Source: Lucasfilm

Disney/Lucasfilm has been suspiciously quiet on details concerning the release of The Force Awakens on Blu-ray/DVD. Now though, we have just about all the info we could possibly need, including the release date (April 5), the bonus features (a metric boatload), and deleted scenes (seven total). The highlight: a full-length documentary on the making of the movie, with a behind-the-scenes look at the production process from start to finish. You can check out the rest of the details here in our full rundown of Disney’s announcement.

2. Star Wars: Rebels finally gives us a deep dive into the post-Clone Wars Jedi Order

Source: Disney XD

Star Wars: Rebels has long danced around familiar characters over its two-season run. In the show’s latest episode, “Shroud of Darkness,” we see the first real in-depth look. Ahsoka deals with how her expulsion from the Jedi Order led to Anakin Skywalker’s fall into evil, Kanan is told that his apprentice Ezra is doomed for a similar fall, and lightsabers abound. It’s an episode that finally takes Rebels in a direction that’s less “self-contained stories” and more “informing the greater Star Wars narrative,” something that’s been a long time coming. You can stream the episode in full right now on Disney XD’s website.

3. Peter Mayhew provides definitive proof that Han shot first

Source: Twitter

If there’s one mystery that’s been a point of contention for fans and creator George Lucas, it’s the one surrounding a simple declaration: Han shot first. It all traces back to one of the first scenes for Han Solo back during A New Hope, in which he (allegedly) kills a bounty hunter in cold blood. Lucas argues that the bounty hunter Greedo shot first, and that Han was acting in self defense, even going so far as to re-edit the scene to make it more clear. Fans vehemently disagree though, and if Peter Mayhew is to be believed, they may actually be right.

Mayhew, as many know, is known for his role as the hulking Wookiee Chewbacca. Recently, he’s been tweeting out pages from the original scripts, and his latest provides us with a literal smoking gun to the “Han shot first” controversy. Mayhew himself sides with fans, citing the page of the script that describes Han as the only shooter in the Mos Eisley Cantina. You can check out the page above, and the full script of the scene on Twitter over in this direction.

4. Set photos surface of Luke Skywalker in Episode VIII

Source: Lucasfilm

We’ve heard precious little about any specific spoilers for Episode VIII,making it newsworthy any time a photo from the set leaks out to the public. The latest comes to us courtesy of Variety, as part of a feature on the resurgence of the Irish film industry. In the leaked photo, we see Mark Hamill in the same Luke Skywalker robes he was wearing at the end of The Force Awakens,still on the same island we left him at before the end credits. Additionally, MosCroatia.com has reported more Luke/Rey sightings in Croatia (the same site used by Game of Thrones), teasing at a potential chase scene through an unnamed town.